Yamaha's Last Hand to Play

If Yamaha Drums doesn't get their act together soon, lots of people are going to lose faith in their products.Once the word becomes more wide spread about the end of their drum production, it will only get worse for them.

My concern is, not being able to get factory parts for drums I own, when stuff wears out.Like if I need to replace a wood rim on my Akira Jimbo snare, I would be stuck with an after market product.

Hopefully Yamaha will come to their senses and realize that some other company can make shells for them.There seem to be too much old school Japanese stuff going on within the company.A company with a reputation as big as theirs shouldn't even consider stopping production on such iconic drums as these.

There's much to be considered here. Sakae has been buildingdrums for Yamaha since 1967. The reason Yamaha is one of theelite, iconic, drum makers is the line of high quality products theyhave produced over the years. Witnessing the reputation and legacythey will surely need to uphold should they continue, they must be EXTREMELY careful and guarded in deciding who their new manufacturerwill be.

It's like D.L. said, a great legacy (Rogers drums) can be destroyed forthe sake of simply keeping the doors open. I hope Yamaha pulls through.But we know and they know that they cannot afford to offer one iota lessthan what they've given in the past and remain in business at the levelthey currently command if they even remain at all!

Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Jim Haler, Product Manager for Yamaha Drums. There is a LOT of false information here, so I'll set the record straight. First, we are not going out of business. These are merely rumors being spread by competitors that WISH we were going out of business rather than putting ourselves in a position to be more price competitive. I'll start with a post I wrote for several other forums, and go a little more into detail.

I’ll step in here and enter the discussion.

We are at the beginning of an exciting time at Yamaha Drums, and there are a lot of fantastic things coming. Many of you have seen our Live Custom Series, which was launched at Winter NAMM and received rave reviews by dealers, artists, and press. It is the first drum set out of our Yamaha-owned factory in Xiaoshan, China. And this is just the start.

It’s important to remember that all of the techniques and processes that have made Yamaha one of the most respected names in drums were, in fact, created by Yamaha. The transition to our new state-of-the-art factory has allowed us to update and improve these processes and tools utilized by the craftsmen to build our drums. Also important to note is that the Xiaoshan factory was built from the ground up as a Yamaha factory and is ISO 14001 certified. Yamaha has been building pianos and wind/brass instruments in that facility for years; as a result, each craftsman is very familiar with our high standards and expectations, being trained not only in how but why we do things the way we do.

Ultimately, Yamaha drums will be better, while becoming more affordable: not by downgrading the quality of the materials, but by making the processes more efficient and still crafting some of the world’s best-sounding drums.

Now, for a little more detail. First, all of the machinery and techniques that Sakae used to make Yamaha Drums these last 45+ years were developed by Yamaha, and taken to Sakae. As a parting gift, all of the machines and molds that were installed in their factory were given to Sakae as a gift so that they can manufacture and market their own branded drums, something they have wanted to do for some time. Every design element, every nut, bolt, and screw are Yamaha, and always have been. Yes, we are moving production to a factory that was designed and built from the ground up to be a Yamaha factory, with the capability to produce instruments of the quality that Yamaha has always been known for. The factory at Xiaoshan is ISO14001 certified, and the staff trained by the people at Yamaha Japan who design and develop all of our instruments and manufacturing techniques. They are trained in not only how, but WHY we do what we do. We have been building pianos in the factory for almost 14 years, wind and brass instruments for several years, marching percussion, and the latest kit we launched (with rave reviews from dealers and artists), Live Custom is the first acoustic kit to come from this factory. We are already in late term development of the next Absolute and artist response has been overwhelmingly positive. One artist said "I don't care if you're making them on mars as long as they sound this good".

The logistics of moving production to a different factory make it necessary to discontinue all of our current lines, but replacements are in development for all of them. This move gives us total control over the manufacturing of our drums, allows us to implement design improvements quicker, and takes away one level of them being stepped on by someone who has to make a profit before they get to our dealers. The end result will be drums with better specs, for less money that have all of the features that make a drum a Yamaha drum(staggered diagonal seam/Air Seal System), great finishes, hand craftsmanship. PHX has always been, and will remain to be made at Yamaha Music Craft in Hamamatsu, Japan.

If you have any more questions regarding this, or anything regarding Yamaha Drums please feel free to contact me via private message or email.

Thank you for verifying the proper information in regards to this topic of Yamaha. Prior to my commenting on the subject it was back of my mind wondering whether or not how true can an articles be, especially these days, when the nature of the internet is so open for anyone to place information that can easily be misleading. I suspected that the information could have used further investigation as to the accuracy announced. And with the advent of advanced/useable graphic software (one being Adobe Dreamweaver, etc.) to actually construct a site can be attractive and, at times, outright deceptive. It always amazes me how we, at times but not always, be vulnerable in accepting whatever is being seen simply because it's a website that appears legit in it's stated information. That's the same scenario when considering Wikipedia which is wide open to the public's input - there's truth there but at times not all of it but mere opinion claiming to be factual. I've come to learn that through lots of research work regarding the modernization of networking, interactivity and 21st century media. It's a required course I'm taking at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Online Division.

Let me say that I never once read anything about Yamaha going outof business. I think it was drumman's intial title that sparked that hereon this site. I didn't really know what was going to happen as far as Yamaha losing Sakae as their builder. As this sounds like it was Sakae's dicision to leave and branch out on their own rather than Yamaha moving on. Personally I think there was a little more to the fact of Yamaha supposedly saying in effect:

It was a nice run, Sakae, thank you.... And here's some free equipment to getyou started on becoming our competitor with our own building trade methods.

Okay, if you say so.... It's niether here or there for me as I will in all likelyhood neverown a set of Yamaha drums anyway....

But however they did it, whatever builder they used and however much that builder was involved in the creative process of Yamaha drums, I'm happy to read that they will keep onkeeping on as they have etched their place in the world community of drums and drumming and have done so deservedly.

It's interesting to note, my thread title.."Yamaha Drums Out of Business" was more of a tabloid title to get attentionon the subject. It does seem that way, by what was told to me by my local Sam Ash drum department.

They said Yamaha will only be producing the Phoenix line after June 2013 and you have until then to order anything else from the other lines, after that they will not be producing any other drum lines.

Shocking to say the least, considering Yamaha Drum's presence in the Drum industry for the last few decades.Generally lack of information from Yamaha Drums would lead one to believe the company was in trouble.It is nice to see Jim Haler took the time to set the record strait about the companies status.